So Much for the South
by speck211
Summary: Doctor McCoy takes a risk


_So unoriginal lol. And REEEALLY rough cause I'm sick right now, but I loved writing this anyway. I was gripped by an idea from a line a read in a silly romance novel heh. And I often start stories in the middle of things cause I never have fully formed ideas lol. _

_So a bit of background, the Enterprise was fighting some enemy, I leave that to the reader's imagination and were about to be blown out of existance before Meera gets the idea to create a blast that will if not damage the enemy ships, at least give the Enterprise time and space to escape. To do so she uses a heavily damaged and barely operable shuttlecraft sitting in the shuttlebay. The story picks up on her return to the ship._

_Meera is a crewman aboard the Enterprise obviously. I haven't really gone into much character depth or even description. Again, I leave that up to the reader. I was more focused on the emotion of the situation rather than the actual characters themselves. I guess she works in engineering and has a relationship with doctor Leornard 'Bones' McCoy. Shes been persuing him for some time, and they both flirt shamelessly and know they care for each other very much, but McCoy is too scared to do anything about it and constantly rebuffs her before it really goes anywhere. _

_Denno about my accuracy on a lot of things. Like the warp core breach and how that would work and what the effects of that would be or Meera being the rank of lieutenant, I dont know how ranking works, so forgive me if anything rings unresearched. Enjoy! Oh, and I dislaim all settings and characters except Meera. The universe belongs to Gene Rodenberry :)_

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It had all happened rather quickly. She'd flown the ailing shuttle toward the rapidly approaching enemy ships, made sure the Enterprise was a safe distance away, set off the shuttle's auto-destruct sequence (mercifully one of the few things still operating on the craft), and had been beamed out of there at the last second.

Meera Jenkins now stood on the transport pad, her heartbeat pounding in her ears. She looked down at her body, seeing it still in one piece, and a relieved grin spread across her face. Not only had she saved the Enterprise, but she'd made it out alive. She hadn't stopped to think about her own mortality when she'd been struck by the bold idea, only the lives of the crew. But now, in hindsight, the possibility of her death became glaringly obvious and she thanked her lucky stars she'd lived to tell the tale.

"Are you all right, lieutenant?"

The voice of Captain James T. Kirk broke through the fog in her head. She looked up and the rest of the transporter room slowly came into view. First the two nurses at her sides, running medical tricorders up and down her body, searching for injury, risidual radiation and the like. Then the bemused face of Chief Engineer Scott, standing at the transporter controls and shaking his head. Then the concerned visage of her captain, standing several feet away. His concern became a smile as he saw her eyes clear.

"Yes sir, I think I'm all right." She breathed, her hands lightly touching her face to confirm.

"Other than some elevated adrenaline levels, you seem to be in perfect working order ma'am." The nurse to her left chirped.

"Good to now." The captain said with much sincerity, reaching out to help Meera off the transport pad. "Well, lieutenant, that was certainly...exciting, to say the least. I don't think I've ever seen Mr. Scott lock on to someone's signal so quickly."

"Oh!" Meera returned to herself, climbing down and rushing over to thank the chief as gratitude overwhelmed her. "Monty, you were brilliant. I owe you my life!" She said, utterly beholden to the man. Scotty looked at her in disbelief.

"Don't be daft, woman!" He took her hand over the transport consol. "If it weren't for you, the Enterprise and everyone on board would be toe-up. We're the ones who owe you everything."

"Indeed." The captain cut in. "It seems we're in your debt, lieutenant. Because of your efforts, everyone, including yourself, is safely returned to Federation territory. I thank you. I'm delighted that you're all right."

"Shes not all right!" A voice behind them barked unexpectedly. "She's a flamin' moron!"

Meera raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?" She began, forgetting the captain and turning to the source.

Her insulted attitude faded when she saw who it was. There at the door to the transporter room was Leonard McCoy. His face was riddled with anger and worry, directed squarely at the young lieutenant. She nearly gasped at the sight of it, of him. The captain turned to him also, looking perplexed by his statement.

"You're well off base, doctor." Kirk said, touching Meera's shoulder. "This woman's stroke of brilliance saved all our lives."

McCoy didn't seem to hear the captain at all, muttering "What did you do, Meer...?"

His rabid intensity made Meera feel oddly defensive and she put a hand up as he moved swiftly towards her. Even the captain gave out an alarmed "Bones." Rather than throttle her however, which is what she feared he was about to do, McCoy instead gripped her by the arms, looking her up and down. Her raised hand fell to his chest.

"I'm okay, Len. Really." She said softly, trying to calm him as she looked around at the other people in the transporter room. She knew he would regret this display once he came to his senses, which appeared to be happening slowly, his eyes darting left and right in embarrassment. He released his hold on her and took a step back, clearing his throat. Kirk stepped between the two of them.

"You're nurses have declared her fit as a fiddle, doctor. Now, Miss Jenkins, if you'd make your way to the ready room, I'll meet you there momentarily to go over exactly what happened so we can prepare a full report for Starfleet. I'm sure we'd all be interested to know just how your...stunt played out"

"Jim." McCoy said, before Meera could respond. "I'd like to take her to sickbay, perform a more thorough examination to make sure there isn't something we've missed. Then I'll send her to you."

Kirk nodded carefully at McCoy, his expression suggesting he understood something the others in the room didn't.

"Of course. I have to make an assessment of damages to the ship and then I'll be on the bridge. Let me know when you're finished."

"I will. Meera, if you'll come with me?" The doctor gestured to the door, his manner now stoic.

Meera walked past him and exited the transporter room wordlessly, still somewhat stunned by everything that had happened and was happening. They walked silently, Meera watching him warily out of the corner of her eye. He kept his head determinedly forward, pushing her by the back as she started to lag behind. She had a feeling he had something other than an examination in mind, and she was most definately not in the mood to sit through one of his finger waggings.

"Len, I'm telling you I'm fine." Meera said, starting to drag her feet as they came up on the door to the sickbay.

"Let's let the doctor between us be the judge of that, will yeh? Just get in here and sit down." McCoy said, grabbing her arm to lead her inside and direct her toward a bio-bed before she could slip away.

"The captain wants to speak to me, he needs to know exactly what happened." She insisted, trying to appeal to his sense of duty.

"The captain is assessing the ship right now," he said, facing her with his hands on his sides. "And he's not going anywhere. Just sit down a minute."

Reluctantly, Meera gave in for the time being. She hopped up on the bio-bed and waited expectantly, studying the empty sickbay. She hoped he would pull out his tricorder to do a quick scan but he merely stood there and crossed his arms, looking at her with his brow furrowed and his mouth a thin line. Her suspicions that he had no intention of giving her a medical once over were now confirmed. She knew where this was going and she was not going to listen to one of his admonishing tirades. She shook her head, moving to get up.

"No, Len, I don't have time for your _griping_ right now. I ha-"

She was cut off by his large hand on her shoulder, pushing her back to the bio-bed.

"You siddown, or I swear to God I'll belt you."

Meera sat back with a thump, staring at him. She was rather leveled by his threat. She knew he wouldn't dare strike her but never the less the words were harsh, even for the surly doctor. She scoffed to cover up her surprise.

"So much for southern hospitality..." she muttered. He pointed a finger of warning in her face, but rather than silence her it only proved to frustrate her.

"What?" she demanded, throwing her arms up. "What do you want from me?"

He scowled at her for a moment before growling out, "What the hell were you thinking?"

She simply shrugged.

"I don't understand the question."

"You flew a shuttle craft, a _damaged_ shuttle craft with busted phasers and minimal shielding, into a combat zone, without authorization, without any notice whatsoever, and caused a warp core breach that created a massive explosion from which you just managed to beam away by the skin of your teeth! So again, what the hell were you thinking?"

Meera rolled her eyes.

"What was I thinking? Gee," she feigned thoughfulness. "I was thinking the Enterprise was on her last leg and wouldn't take more enemy fire. I was thinking we needed an out before they were close enough to blast us into space junk. Thought I might, I don't know, try to save some of the four hundred or so lives on this ship, just for kicks."

"This isn't a damned joke." McCoy bit out through his teeth, now pacing in front of her. She couldn't understand how or why he had worked himself into this state. Certainly it had been a risk, but she'd known that one way or another the Enterprise and the hundreds of lives aboard would at least be given a fighting chance, and that had been well worth it to her.

"Look, the Enterprise was a sitting duck, all right? I was by the shuttlebay and the idea occured to me, so I took the initiative. You're the only one complaining and don't pretend for one second you wouldn't have done the same if you'd had the idea."

"That's different!" he protested, though with half-hearted conviction.

"Oh, of course." Meera said, her words dripping with sarcasm. "Because I don't have a penis..."

"Stop it!" he pointed at her again. "That's not what I meant."

Meera threw her head back in exasperation.

"Len, you're being ridiculous! The explosion gave us the escape we needed. Scotty had me away before the blast, no sweat. The ship is safe and sound, minus a shuttlecraft that was already unservicable anyway. So why don't you just..._unclench_ already?"

"Because!" McCoy turned on her, practically shouting. "Yer a flippin' maniac, yeh coulda been killed!"

"Yeah, but I wasn't!" She shot back.

"But you could have been!" He did shout this time.

But something in his tone had changed. It caused Mira to bite back any immediate retorts she might have let fly. She watched McCoy closely as he continued.

"If you'd been unable to contact Mr. Scott in time or if the shuttlecraft had drawn direct fire..." he said, his voice falling with his eyes to the ground. "You'd be a bunch of space dust right now, and then what would happen?"

His words hung in the air a moment. Then he let out a shaky sigh as he shook his head and rubbed his face with his hands.

Mira was at a loss for words. That's what this was really about - he'd been afraid for her. She wasn't accustomed to someone showing such concern for her welfare, at least not anyone outside her immediate family, and she certainly didn't expect it of the curmudgeonly doctor. She found it to be a pleasant feeling and surpressed a chuckle, a small grin gracing her features instead. She tapped McCoy gingerly on the leg with her foot.

"Fine."

He looked back up at her.

"I'm sorry, all right? I wasn't trying to scare you." She said gently.

His cheeks flushed a deep red, as though he'd been caught in some scandalous act.

"Now hold on," he said gruffly, "thats not what this is about, I just-"

"Well," she cut him off before they could get into another argument. "All the same, I'm sorry."

"Well you should be." He responded a little too quickly, needlessly fiddling with an instrument beside the bed.

Meera laughed as she watched him, a sudden giddiness bubbling in her stomach.

"Mickey, I didn't know you worried so."

"Shut up." He muttered. His mouth gave a small twitch, betraying his supposedly surly demeanour.

"Tell me," she said, lightly trailing a finger around his collar. "How thorough an examination did you have in mind exactly?"

"Cut it out." He stopped her hand, looking fearfully at the door. She knew he wasn't angry, just not too keen on getting caught. Not wanting to cause him too much discomfort, she let her hand fall back to the bed.

"You don't have to be proper _all_ the time, you know." She chided.

McCoy only grunted in response.

They'd had this conversation before, but with the way he was behaving towards her today, openly concerned and attentative, it felt different somehow. She sensed his resolve might not be so strong this time and wondered if maybe she should push her luck.

"Am I so repulsive that you always have to shrug me off ?" She asked, trying to make him feel guilty more than anything. Briefly dropping his cantankerous manner, he smirked at her.

"Nice try but that's not going to work. We both know, hell the whole damn ship knows you're the most beautiful woman on board." He said, looking warmly into her eyes.

But as always, he quickly caught himself, clearing his throat and walking away to his desk to pick up a random patient file.

"I'm sorry I dragged you down here, darlin'. I wasn't thinking. You're right, you should go meet the captain." He said, keeping his back to her.

Undaunted, she left the bio-bed and followed him, wanting to test him further.

"What is it then?" She walked up behind him, placing her chin on his shoulder. "You sure you don't have some hot little firecracker hidden away in your office?"

McCoy let out a long breath as he tossed away the useless file. He leaned forward on the desk, speaking quietly over his shoulder.

"We've been over this, Meer. Yer just a kid, for God's sake."

Meera smiled into his neck.

"Always the southern gentleman. I'm twenty-five, Len. That's hardly qualifies me an adolescent."

He turned to face her again, lightly holding her arms as she leaned into him. Uncertainty still marred his handsome features.

"Honey, I'm old enough to be your grandfather."

"Honey," she retorted, "who are you kidding? You're barely old enough to be my father. And that argument is older than both of us combined. What else you got?"

She wrapped her arms around his neck. Outwardly she remained calm but inside she was elated as he'd never allowed her this close before, and rather than remove her arms he only gripped them tighter, watching the door again. She took it as a good sign that he wasn't pulling back.

"We have to be professional. If we were caught...I don't know what would happen to either of us or our careers."

"I've gotta be honest with you, I don't think my adoring you is much of a secret. And after your near epic display of emotion in the transporter room today, I think you're cover is pretty much blown too. I sincerely doubt Kirk would hand us over to Starfleet, he doesn't seem the type." She said, thinking of the captains many flirtations with numerous female Starfleet officers as well as his close relationship with McCoy. She moved closer to rest her forehead against his. "You're running out of excuses, doctor."

"Meer, please." His voice was a whisper. "Go on and find the captain."

Meera paused, her body sagging as the pleasure was sucked out of the room. Just when she'd thought she was making progress, he'd pushed her away again. A girl could only be rejected so many times before it became ridiculous.

"All right." She abruptly dropped her arms and headed for the door, prepared to storm out. But when she reached it she slowed to a stop, an uncharacteristic hesitation coming over her. She spoke sadly, her head low. "If you truly want me to leave you alone, Len, I won't bother you anymore."

The door hissed open and she made to walk through it. She didn't hear him come up behind her until she was suddenly wrenched backward and into his arms. He had the same look he'd had in the transporter room, as though he didn't know whether he wanted to hug her close or strangle her. Since his hands were at her waist and not around her throat, she assumed or at least hoped he meant to do the former. His gaze was unsettling.

"Sure move fast for an old-timer." She joked, a tad breathless. When he didn't even smile, she became uneasy. "What is it, Len?"

He inhaled deeply before grabbing her behind the head and dipping her back.

"So much for the southern gentleman." He said.

Her laugh was swallowed up by his lips.


End file.
